vaJa meliqiSvili

VAJHA MELIKISHVILIQqandakebaSCULPTURE

proeqtis avtori: Tamar meliqiSvili

avtori madlobas uxdiskulturisa da ZeglTa dacvis saministros wignis gamocemis dafinansebisaTvis

da megobrebs TanadgomisaTvis:

dizaineri: nia mSvidobaZe

foto: giorgi baramiZe, sofi siTveli, giorgi CxataraSvili, zina barnovi

Targmani:

marina qoreli, daviT bostanaSvili

aseve levan erisTavs, Sako TevdoraZes

The author of project :

Tamar Melikishvili

The author expresses gretitude to Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia for funding the publishing and friends for support:

Designer: Nia Mshvidobadze

Photo: Giorgi Baramidze, Sophie Sitwell, Giorgi Chkhatarashvili, Zina Barnovi

Translation:Marina Koreli, David Bostanashvili

AlsoLevan Eristavi, Shako Tevdoradze

vaJa meliqiSvili`Cemi namuSevrebis arasruli nusxa~

VAJHA MELIKISHVILI“INCOMPLETE LIST OF MY WORKS”

Tbilisi

2011

TBILISI

1936 - 2004

2

`Tavisi mosvliT safiqrals gvi-tovebda~ - ambobdnen mxatvrebi vaJa meliq-iSvilze. bednieria Semoqmedi, romelic Tavisi saTqmeliT mova, Seqmnis sakuTar samyaros da es samyaro aravis ar hgavs, misia mxolod.... vaJa meliqiSvilis cxovreba savsea mudmivi ZiebebiT da formaTa siaxliT, mkveTri individualurobiT, saganTa da movlenaTa arsSi wvdomisa da ganzogade-bis didi niWiT. xelovnebaTmcodneTa Se-fasebiT igi gamoirCeoda dRevandelo-bisaTvis TiTqos uCveulo azrovnebiT, romelic materialurisagan ganyenebulis vizualurad warmoCenisaken iyo mimarTu-li, rac TavisTavad xelovnebis maradiu-lobis niSan-Tvisebaa. simon-vaJa meliqiSvili daibada 1936 wels. aRizarda wm. mRvdelmowame simon mWedliZis STamomavalTa garemo-Si, romelic jer kidev XIX saukunis haeriT sunTqavda, sadac XIX saukunis saqarTvelos ganwyoba sufevda da ilia WavWavaZisa da akaki wereTlis garemo cocxlobda... sa-dac erTmaneTs Sexvda XIX da XX saukune... saSualo ganaTleba miiRo didi tradiciebiT ganTqmul Tbilisis va-JTa I saSualo skolaSi, swavla ganagrZo Tbilisis samxatvro akademiaSi iseTi cnobili xelovanebis xelmZRvanelobiT, rogorebic iyvnen sergo qobulaZe, silo-van kakabaZe, d. gabaSvili... misi pedagogi iyo axali qarTuli qandakebis erT-erTi fuZemdebeli, nikoloz kandelaki. 60-ian wlebSi vaJa meliqiSvilis sadiplomo na-muSevarma, romelsac `wyurvili~ hqvia, sa-zogadoebis yuradReba miipyro Tavisi profesiuli siZlieriTa da Sesrulebis originalurobiT. es iyo sruliad axal-gazrda xelovanis didi ganacxadi monu-menturi qandakebis dargSi.

vaJa meliqiSvilis cxovrebis mTa-var mizans xelovnebis WeSmariti msax-ureba warmoadgenda. miuxedavad yofiT urTierTobaSi Tavisi altruizmisa da tolerantobisa, profesiul asparezze igi iyo principuli da mtkice pirovneba, romelic mudam ibrZoda imis winaaRmdeg, rac WeSmariti mxatvrobis ganviTarebis Semaferxebel mizezad da dabrkolebad miaCnda. periodi, rodesac vaJa meliqiSvi-li SemoqmedebiT asparezze gamovida, dae-mTxva mniSvnelovan gardatexas qarTul saxviT xelovnebaSi. igi am procesebis aq-tiuri monawile gaxda: aago mTeli rigi mniSvnelovani kompleqsebi rogorc saqarTveloSi, ise mis farglebs gareT: gamarjvebis stela (siRnaRi, 1966w.); akaki wereTlis memoriali (saCxere-sxvito-ris gasayarze 1988w.); `Sinmousvlel-Ta~ grandiozuli memoriali senakSi - `didebis kubis~ (1976-1984ww.) 120-ze meti deformirebuli, magram, amave dros, klasikur kanonzomierebas damorCile-buli figura, romelic gaocebas iwvevs adamianis sulisa da sxeulis tanjvis qandakebis formaSi gamoxatvis virtuo-zulobiT, zogadsakacobrio maradiuli tkivilis simbolur-realisturi asaxvis maRalprofesiuli doniT. vaJa meliqiSvili avtoria bare-liefebis seriisa, rogoricaa, ̀dovlaTi~ (Tbilisi, 1969w.); krwanisis samTavrobo rezidenciaSi ganTavsebuli bareliefisa `Tbilisuri motivi~; Tbilisis sionis karibWisaTvis gamiznuli, saxarebis mo-tivebze agebuli kompozicia - `RvTismSo-beli yrmiT~; misi saWreTlis Seqmnilia cnobil qarTvel moRvaweTa portrete-bi, maT Soris Salva dadianis, valerian gunias, nestor kalandariSvilisa... brw-yinvale figura mixeil TamaraSvilisa...

axalgazrda qalis portreti

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMEN

1959

3

bolo periodSi igi gatacebuli iyo miTologiuri da istoriuli Teme-biT: `mezRapre~, `mefe aieti~, `mefe Tam-ari~ - sazogadoebaSi da kolegebSi misi es namuSevrebi iwvevdnen did dainte-re-sebas, vnebaTa Relvas, cxare kamaTs... ai, amonaridi 2002 wels `erovnul gale-reaSi~ gamarTuli gamofenis Taobaze gamoqveynebuli erTi werilidan: `metad uCveulo da upretenzio gamofena moew-yo, sadac warmodgenilia moqandake vaJa meliqiSvilis jerjerobiT mxolod Ta-baSirSi Camosxmuli qandakebebi: `Tamar mefe~, `mefe aieti~, `iakob gogebaSvili~, `paata~, `wonasworobis qalRmerTi~ - es qandakebebi Tavis TavSi itevs, erTis mxriv, mkveTrad individualur da, amas-Tanave, mZlavri ganzogadebis niSnebs, rac gansxeulebulia xan monumenturi qandake-bisaTvis damaxasiaTebel gluvi zedapiris farTo monasmebSi, xan ki spilos Zvlis nakeTobis TiTqmis filigranulobaSi. yoveli maTgani ki savsea cota sevdiani, magram yovelTvis saocrad naTeli emo-ciuri muxtiT. es qandakebebi didi xania elodeba sabolood Camosxmas, magram saxsrebi ratomRac sxva, tradiciuli (stereotipuli) proeqtebisaTvis gamoi-Zebneba xolme im sababiT, rom sazoga-doeba irCevs ordinalurs (da, raoden dasanania, rom Zalisxmeva ar aris mi-marTuli am sazogadoebis azrovnebisa da gemovnebis ganviTarebisaken). Tumca unda iTqvas, rom sxvadasxva gamofenebze warmodgenilma am namuSevrebma swored damTvalierebeli sazogadoebis didi yuradReba da mowoneba daimsaxura. ase rom, gavrcelebul azrs imis Taobaze, TiTqos saqarTveloSi mrgvali qandake-bis tradicia ar arsebobs da, amdenad, is CvenSi verc viTardeba, vaJa meliqiSvilis Semoqmedeba sruliad aqarwylebs.~

wyurvili - sadiplomo namuSevari

THIRST - DIPLOMA WORK1960

4

gamoxmaurebebs davesesxebiT, romlebic misi bolo gamofenis Sesaxeb daibeWda: `rusTavelze Tu gaivliT, Tqvens yura-dRebas aucileblad miipyrobs galere-is win mdgari qalis naRvliani figura Camowelili `araesTetikuri~ propor-ciebiT (`Sinmousvleli Svilis `molo-dini - `mwuxare deda~) gamvlelebi am tragikuli figuris win nabijs aneleben, mravaltanjuli dedis am ganzogadebuli sulis Tanalmobis niSnad~. saqarTvelos uaxloesi warsulisa da msoflios dRevandelobis amsaxvelma am qandakeba-mac mravali miTqma-moTqma gamoiwvia... bolo gamofenaze (sadadgmo Se-Tavazeba) warmodgenil qandakebebs vaJa meliqiSvili Tavis saTayvanebel qalaqSi, TbilisSi xedavda, romlis quCebSi xe-tiali mas ase Zlier uyvarda: `gaval, Tbi-liss gadavxedavo~, - ityoda xolme da fexiT gauyveboda rusTavelis gamziri-saken...

damana meliqiSvili

vaJa meliqiSvilis saxelTan dakav-Sirebulia ara marto qarTuli qandake-bis, aramed qarTuli wignis mxatvrobis ganviTarebis sruliad axali etapi da per-speqtivebi. amisTvis kmara davasaxeloT Tundac misi gaformebuli pirveli wigni - jimSer mujiris `simRera-musikis saxel-mZRvanelo~, romelic man jer kidev stu-dentobis periodSi, 60-ian wlebSi Sea-srula; wignis grafikis TvalsazrisiT unikaluria misi daxvewili da filigra-nuli mxatvroba da kaligrafiuli namu-Sevari - irakli abaSiZis cnobili wigni-saTvis, `rusTavelis nakvalevze~ (gamomc. `literatura da xelovneba~, Tbilisi, 1965); aseve misi ilustraciebi mefe vax-tang meeqvsisa da sulxan-saba orbelianis `qilila da damanas~ gamocemisaTvis (teqs-ti daadgina magali Toduam, gamomc. `mer-ani~, Tbilisi, 1965) - es aris tradiciuli qarTuli miniaturuli mxatvrobis axali etapi, romelic sruliadac ar arRvevs da organulad agrZelebs Sua saukuneebis sax-viTi xelovnebis esTetikis tradiciebs. rac Seexeba qandakebas, isev im

dovlaTi - Tbilisis bazari

RICHES - TBILISI MARKET

1969

5

“After every visit he would leave us with something to contemplate about” used to say the artists about Vajha Melikishvili. The creator is fortunate, if he comes with some-thing to say, if he’s able to create his own world and if this world is different from anything else, his own world… Vajha Melikishvili’s life was full of con-stant search and novelties of forms, deep origi-nality with understanding of things and events and a great talent of generalization. According to the evaluation of art scholars, he was distin-guished by the way of thinking and it was chan-neled towards the visualization of immaterial, which is the sign of the eternity of the arts. Simon-Vajha Melikishvili was born in 1936. He was brought up in the atmosphere of the an-cestors of Simon Mchedlidze martyred clergy, which still carried the air of XIX century, the spirit of Georgia of that era and where environment

of Ilia Chavchavadze and Akaki Tsereteli was still alive … where XIX and XX centuries merged with each other. He received his secondary education in Tbilisi No 1 school for boys, so famous for its traditions, continued his studies in the Tbilisi Academy of Arts under the guidance of such distinguished artists as Sergo Kobuladze, Silovan Kakabadze, D. Gabashvili… His teacher was one of the founders of new Georgian sculpture, Nikoloz Kandelaki. In 60-ies, the diploma work by Vajha Melikishvili, called “the Thirst”, attracted the attention of the society by its professional craftsmanship and the originality of the work. This was a bold declaration of a young sculptor in the field of the monumental sculpture. The main objective in Vajha Melikish-vili’s life was to serve the art faithfully. Despite his altruism and tolerance in everyday life, on a professional path he was a unyelding man of principal, always fighting against what he con-sidered as an obstacle and obstruction to the development of true art. Period when Vajha Melikishvili emerged as an artist, coincided with the crucial breaking point in Georgian visual arts. He became an ac-tive participant of this process: he constructed the number of important complexes in Georgia and outside the country: The Stela of Victory (Signagi, 1965), Akaki Tsereteli Memorial (Sach-khere Skhvitory Junction, 1988); “The great me-morial to the “Lost in War”- “The Cube of Glori” (1976-1984) – more than 120 deformed figures which nevertheless abide to the classical laws of form, and which astonish the viewer with the virtuosity of expression of the torture of body and soul in the form of a sculpture, with the high level of professionalism in expressing the global eternal pain of mankind in realistic symbols. Vajha Melikishvili is an author of such series of bas-reliefs as “The Riches” (Tbilisi, 1968); one located in the Krtsanisi Governmental Resi-dence “Motifs of Tbilisi”; the composition built

gamarjvebis stela siRnaRSi

THE STELA OF VICTORY IN SIGNAGI1966

jariskacis Tavi

SOLDIER’S HEAD19656

on the Gospel, designated for the gates of Sioni Cathedral – “Mother Mary with the Child”; Among his works are the portraits of famous Georgian figures, among others of Shalva Dadi-ani, Valerian Gunia, Nestor Kalandarishvili… the great sculpture of Mikheil Tamarashvili… In the last period of his life he was pre-occupied with the historical and mythological themes: “The Story Teller”, “The King Aieti”, “The King Tamar” – these of his works were of upmost interest among his colleagues and a society in general and created fierce arguments. This is the extract from one of the published articles re-garding the exhibition held in the Blue Gallery in 2002: “This was rather unusual, non-pretentious exhibition, where the cast molded works of the Sculptor, Vajha Melikishvili were presented: “King Tamar”, “King Ayet”, “Iakob Gogebash-vili”, “Paata”, “The Goddess of the Balance”- these sculptures contain, the distinguished indi-viduality on one hand and strong generalization on the other, which is materialized in “wide strokes” typical to monumental sculptures, or in almost filigree craft as in ivory. But each of them is full of a little bit sad, but always very bright emotional spark. These sculptures are waiting to be finally molded, but unfortunately the funds usually become available for other, traditional (stereotypical) projects, with the explanation that the society chooses the ordinary (and it is so regretful that no steps are taken to develop the taste in the arts of such society). But it needs to be mentioned that, these works, presented in various exhibitions, attracted the attention of the society and were highly prized by the view-ers. Thus the accepted assumption that the tra-dition of the round sculpture is non-existent in Georgia, because of which it can not be further developed, is completely diminished by the works of Vajha Melikishvili.” Completely new stage and perspec-tives of not only Georgian Sculpture but also the book illustration arts are linked to Vajha Me-

likishvili’s name. Just naming the very first book illustrated by him will be sufficient- “Song and Music Text Book” by Jimsher Mujiri, which he created during his student years, in 60-ies. From the graphics point of view the famous book by Irakli Abashidze “In the Footsteps of Rustaveli” is unique by its sophisticated and fine artistry and calligraphy (Publishing House “Literature and Art”,Tbilisi, 1965); Also his illustrations of the book by the king Vakhtang the VI and Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani “Kilila and Damana” (The text was verified by Magali Todua, Publishing House “Merani”, Tbilisi, 1965) – this is a new stage of tra-ditional Georgian miniature art, which does not violate and originally continues the traditions of the esthetics visual arts of middle ages. As for the sculptures, I would recall the reviews which were publish following his last exhibition: “If you happen to be passing the Rustaveli Avenue, your attraction by no means will be drawn towards the sad figure of a wom-an in front of the Gallery, with the prolonged, “non-esthetic” proportions (Expecting the re-turn home of a missing son from war –“Grieving Mother”): the passerby will slow down near this tragic figure, by this giving their condolences to this generalized spirit of suffering mother.” This sculpture reflecting the nearest past of Geor-gia and the current worldwide reality has also caused controversial arguments… The sculptures presented during his last exhibition (staging offer) , Vajha melikishvili en-visaged to be mounted in Tbilisi, his home city, strolling along the streets of which he enjoyed so much: “I’ll go out, have a look at Tbilisi” he would say and start heading towards Rustaveli avenue…

Damana Melikishvili

megobris portreti

PORTRAIT OF A FRIEND

1960

7

me da laura

LAURA AND ME19988

Cemi Tbilisi

MY TBILISI1995

mefe aieti

KING AYET1999

10

mefe erekle

KING EREKLE1997

11

12

grafika

GRAPHICS1980-1990 13

14

kompozicia baTumis aeroportisaTvis

COMPOSITION FOR BATUMI AIRPORT1968

15

nestor kalandariSvilis portreti

PORTRAIT OF NESTOR KALANDARISHVILI

197816

roca saubari vaJa meliqi-Svilzea, `landebs sasaxleSi mxolod maSin eli, ...~. me mesmis maTi ena. erT enaze metyveleben vaJas mefeebi da

meCaieebi; beladebi da balerinebi; wmin-danebi da tanjuli tanebi; zRapris perso-naJebi, revolucionerebi da kidev sxvani (umetesad dakveTis gareSe, Tavisufali nebiT Sesrulebuli kompoziciebi). nawarmoebis sidides mefeebi da didebulebi ar gansazRvraven; isini arafers mateben qandakebas; qandakebis me-tyveleba - qandakmetyveleba gadaaqcevs me-fis qandakebas qandakebis mefed; beladis qandakebas - qandakebis beladad. vaJasTan ase iyo. roca lenins akeTebda, - uyvarda Tavisi fiqris lenini. vaJas fiqri ki is adgili iyo, sadac sakuTari sicocxle plastikis sicocxled gardaiqmneboda. vaJas samegobro wrec upiratesad aseTi fiqris adamianebiT iyo SemosazRvruli. am sivrceSi mefobda simartove, usaxsroba da siSore - is daSorebuli iyo artistul sazogadoebas, xSir SemTxvevaSi daStam-puls, maskulturis mTavar mewarmes. Cven `xsovnis kubSi~ davmegobrdiT

- Cvens erTobliv SemoqmedebiT sivrceSi. mogvianebiT vaJas qandakebebis samegobro-Sic aRmovCndi - `frTosani xari~ Cemi skulpturuli oreulia. bolo xanebSi sololakSi `poeziis sasaxles~ (yofili `samadlo~) vZerwavdi. modioda, mamxneveb-da, xarobda - es vaJas xasiaTi iyo. vaJas didi siyvaruli kidev sxva Temaa, sxva ambavi - masStaburi, globaluri. vaJas kacobrioba uyvarda - mTeli kaco-brioba (dostoevskis personaJiviT). vaJa erTaderTia, vinc Semxvedria am ZaliT Sepyrobili. iseT droze ocnebobda, iseT sivrceebs agebda, sadac Tavs moiyridnen gansxvavebuli Sexedulebebis da rwmenis adamianebi. sayovelTao mSvidoba da har-monia iyo vaJas safiqrali. am fiqridan daibada misi samarTlianobis qalRmer-Tic; amdagvari fiqriani butbutiT dalia suli. vaJas qandakebis adamianebi swored aseTi naTesavebi arian, vaJas naTesi naTe-savebi. isini erT enaze laparakoben. `aha erTi xalxia da erTi ena aqvT yvelas... modiT, CavideT da aRvrioT maTi ena...~ xandazmuli - drouli samyaroc xelaxla alaparakdeba, xelaxla gadaiwereba, xe-laxla gadaiZerweba... da vidre ar gada-werila, vidre ar areula - vityvi: vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakeba arana-ratiulia, is arafers ar yveba, arafers ar aRwers garda sakuTari Tavisa; mTli-anad ganiaraRebulia - arsiT da arsenal-iT - moumzadebelia socialur diskursSi CasarTvelad Tavisi mSobeliviT. vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakeba ara-metaforulia, - mas araferze ar gadaaqvs aqcenti, is sakuTari enis sivrceSi rCeba - aramodernistulia. vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakeba arc postmodernistulia, - mas ar axasiaTebs metakulturuli refleqsiebi, Tundac ma-koreqtirebeli ironia; is mTeli serio-

zulobiT qmnis da amiT saboloo ganaCe-nic gamoaqvs. vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakeba verc dekonstruqciis diskursSi erTveba, misi kompoziciebi centris, saTavis, wonas-worobisa da harmoniis erTgulebas inar-Cuneben da emijnebian kritikul wakiTxvas. vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakeba ufro rekonstruqciaa - zneobrivi pirvelsawyi-sis rekonstruqcia; sinkretizmis dabrune-bis vneba; kulturamdeli - `ukulturo~ sivrcis wyurvili; raRac antisimulakris Ziebis Jini; maskulturad qceuli kulturis rRvevis wadili. vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakebasTan mi-marTebaSi, yovelgvari diskretuli dis-kursi diskreditaciaa idealis, mTlianis. vaJa meliqiSvilis adamianic is arsebaa, visac misjili aqvs Sinagani konstituciuri wesrigi. kamiusTan xom piriqiT xdeba: Ta-visuflebaa - tvirTi da sasjeli. sasjeli da tanjva, tkivili da Civili ar iyo vaJas-Tvis wameba, iyo ameba - siame, simxneve. vaJa garegnulad gavda kamius nawar-moebebidan gadmosul personaJs, egzis-tencialisturi msoflgancdis adamians - gaucxoebuls, magram ara gulgrils, piriqiT - guliT da fiqriT don-kixoturi rwmenisa da SemarTebis kacs. arsebiTad ki orive personaJi ucxoa - ̀ ucxos~ mersoc da mwuxare saxis raindic erTi saxis ori Tva-lia - qori Tvalia - elami mzera. es mzera axasiaTebda vaJa meliqiSvils - erTi Tva-li sakuTar egoSi qonda Carguli, meore ki angelozis dasanaxad cisken mimarTuli - `...modaraje kacis Tvali~.vaJa meliqiSvili ar iyo Teoriebis kaci, is grZnobda qandakebas taniT da janiT, Tumca uyvarda naqandakaris moyola, Tum-ca uyvarda sjani. vaJas movusminoT (diqto-fonis Canaweridan): `...aseTi cxovreba lamazia. TiTqos ukanonobaSi kanonia. arRvev kanonebs imi-

C(i)vilis plastika

17

saTvis, rom daakanono kanoni. . . . . ara, qaosi ar aris es, es konstituciuri gamdi-drebaa, TviTon adamiani xom konstituci-urad aSenebuli fizikaa. misi qvecnobie-riT da cnobieriT. ar SeiZleba man axali kanoni konstituciurobis gareSe moita-nos; is konstituciuri wyobidan gamomdin-are moaqvs. rodesac konstituciur wyobasa da stereotips Soris vakuumi Cndeba, maSin iwyeba xolme qaosi (iqamde), vidre konsti-tuciuroba ar mova da konstituciurad ar dafuZndeba is axali xedvebi da is axali kanonebi romlebic daibada. ase, rom mainc yvelaferi kanonzomieria. kanonzomiere-bis gareSe araferi SeiZleba iyos imitom, rom yvelaferi Sedgeba im mikro da mak-ro fizikisagan, Tu qimiisagan rac TviTon konstituciur kanonebs ayalibebs, ase rom ar yofiliyo yvelaferi daingreoda. radgan adamiani evoluciuri subi eqtia, plazmidan umaRles formamde, ami-tom am ganviTarebis procesSi axali da axa li xedvebi iqmneba konstituciuri kanon-zomierebisa. ai swored es konstituciuri kanonzomierebebi modis maSin, rodesac iwyeba mobezreba stereotipebisa da axali xedvebis gaCena. rasakvirvelia, vidre bo-lomde gaformdeba es axali xedvebi maSin qaosic iwyebs moZraobas, `magram adamiani yovelTvis amas rogorc wesi inteleqtis meSveobiT konstituciur farglebSi ala-gebs... ...da iwyeba Cveulebrivi ambavi: is rac axali iyo odesRac isev Zveli gaxdeba, isev stereotipi gaxdeba da mere isev axali mova, ufro marTali da ufro axali. ...srulyofileba usazRvroa, ra-sakvirvelia, usazRvro - sazRvris farg-lebSi, sazRvari ki konstituciurobaa...~ase laparakobda moqandake. ras amboben misi qandakebebi? SeuZlebelia qandakebis ena sityvis enaze iTargmnos, zusti adeqvati moeZeb-nos, - ubralod isev Cemi xedva minda Se-

mogTavazoT: vaJas skulpturebis didi nawili protokulturuli, an postkulturuli formebia; vaJas qandakebis adamianebma jer kidev ar ician istoria, an ukve aRar ician istoria; vaJas plastika plazmis, embrio-nis gaxsenebaa, Cvili da ToTo zedapiria, romelic Cveulebis kvalobaze gvafiqre-binebs, rom masSi SefuTulia, an rogorc xeldasmulni ityvian, - dafarulia: didi dro, xandazmuloba, siRrme, istoria, metafizikuri SigTavsi - landi araqveyni-uri. Tu gaxsenebaTa da mogonebaTa pla-toniseul tradicias droebiT mainc Tavs davanebebT da `iqiTuris~ Wvretidan Cvens mzeras aqeT movmarTavT, imas vikmarebT, rac saxezea, anu vaJas naqandakar saxeebs gavanTavisuflebT saxelebisagan, met sia-movnebas miviRebT da sxva suraTsac: aRmoCndeba, rom vaJa meliqiSvilis qandakebebi Tavad arian istoriis xafangi-dan TavdaRweuli landebi da am landebSi sxva landebi veRar imalebian - yvela maT-gani zedapirzea. vaJas `aietis~ da `Tamaris~ mosavadebuli zedapirebic amaze miuTiTe-ben. es is SemTxvevaa, iseTi warmosaxvis sivrcea, romelSic siRrmis diskursi da zedapiris diskursi erTiania - erTia da es `erTi~ dgas. - didi xania. . ? - didi xania. . , Tumca ras vambob, vaJazea laparaki. ager - sul axlaxans gaa-keTa, oTxmocdaoTxSi. es is dro iyo (is dro idga), roca ganviTarebuli socializmis da erovnuli soc-realizmis dro ukve `perestroikis~ kibeebTan idga. axla galereis kibeebTan, rusTavelze vaJa meliqiSvilis, meliqi (arab. mefe) Svilis movlenili deda dgas - brinjaos qandakeba.

`dedis dgomis~ paradoqsebs aRar Cavyvebi, arc `mxcovanebis dgomis~ paradig-mebs, rogorc dayovnebul, Tu samudamod gadavadebul xandazmulobas - SeCerebul bolovadobas - gardmocvalebas.., roca bavSvobac male mova da siCvilec - Cvili plastika. deda dgas da araras akeTebs. misi saqme dgomaa... aq erTiandeba azri da non-sensi; dasawyisi da dasasruli. skulptu-ruli teqstisadmi pozicia ki poziciaa sam-yaros mimarT. vaJa meliqiSvilis cxovreba misive plastikaa, - sevdiani da Civiliani, erTi grZeli RiRini. rusTavelze galereis kibeebTan meti dgas, vidre dedis qandakeba - qandake-bis deda dgas, qandakebis deda-ena, axali, Cvili plastikis ena - sxva ena: Cvili deda da dedis Civili - C(i)vili. galereis kibeebTan, rusTavelze sxva dgas - dgas ucxo, anda saucxoo. sxva dro dgas, sxva amindi.

SoTa bostanaSvili2006

RvTismSobeli yrmiT - kompozicia

sionis taZrisTvis

MOTHER MARY WITH THE CHILD COMPOSITION FOR SIONI CATHEDRAL

198518

19

When one talks about Vazha Me-likishvili, “only then you expect phantoms in palace...”• I un-derstand their language. Va-jha’s “Kings” and “Tea farmers”,

“Leaders” and “Ballet dancers”, “Saints” and “Tortured forms”, “Fairy-tale heroes” and “Revo-lutionaries” speak one language (compositions created mostly without a commission, out of free will). Kings and nobles do not define great-ness of the work; they do not add anything to sculpture; the speech of sculpture - sculpture-speech turns the sculpture of a king into a king of sculpture; sculpture of a leader into the lead-er of sculpture. It was so in Vajha’s case. When he worked on “Lenin”, he loved the Lenin of his thought. Vajha’s thought was a place where his own life was transformed into the life of plastic. Vajha’s circle of friends was made up by the people of this same thought. Here reigned the solitude, poverty and remoteness - he was re-mote from artistic establishment, which marked with clichés, is the main producer of mass-cul-ture. We became friends in “The Cube of Memory” - in our common creative space. Later I became part of Vajha’s company of statues: “The Winged Bull” is my sculptural counterpart. Recently, while I was occupied with sculpting the “Palace of Poetry”, he would visit me, en-courage me; he was happy for me - this was Vajha’s personality. Vajha’s great love is yet another topic,

another story - a global one. Vazha loved the mankind - all human race (like one of Dosto-evsky’s characters). Vajha is the only person I have ever met, who was possessed by this force. He dreamed of the time when people of different views and beliefs would come to-gether - and he designed spaces for such en-counters. Universal peace and harmony were Vajha’s thought and preoccupation. From this thought emerged his “Goddess of Justice”; with this thought he met his death. Vajha’s sculpture-men are his kin. They speak one language. “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; ... Go to, let us go down, and there confound their lan-guage, ...”. The aged and the timely world will speak again, will be rewritten, will be carved again... and while not yet rewritten I shall say: Vajha Melikishvili’s sculpture is non-nar-rative, it recites and describes nothing beyond itself; it is disarmed; it is not prepared to engage with social discourse. Vajha Melikishvili’s sculpture is non-metaphorical, - it does not displace focus on anything, it remains in the space of its own lan-guage - it is non-modernist. Vajha Melikishvili’s sculpture is not post-modernist either, - it is not characterized by metacultural reflexions, or even by corrective irony; he creates with all seriousness and by this he makes an ultimate conclusion. Vajha Melikishvili’s sculpture cannot en-gage in the deconsturctive discourse either; his compositions retain allegiance to Center, Ori-gin, Equilibrium, Harmony and they resist critical reading. Vajha Melikishvili’s sculpture is rather a Reconstruction - reconstruction of moral Prin-ciple; a passion for the return of syncretism; thirst for pre-cultural, “uncultured” space; a zealous search for anti-simulacrum; desire to breach the masculture-turned culture. Discourse of discrete with regards to Vazha Me-

likishvili’s sculpture is only discredit of an Ideal, of the Whole. The Man according to Vajha Melikish-vili, is a being sentenced to inner constitutional order. And, conversely, it is the other way in Camus: the freedom itself is a burden and sen-tence. Sentence and anguish was not torture for Vazha, it was gratifying and heartening. Vajha’s appearance was similar to a character from Camus’ writings: a man bear-ing existential experience of the world - alien-ated, but not indifferent, on the contrary, hav-ing a Don Quixotean belief and fervor with all his heart and thought. Essentially, both characters are strangers - Meursault from “Stranger” and the Sad Knight are both two eyes of the same face. This twofold nature was trait of Vazha’s character - with one eye looking deep inside his “I” and another directed towards skies in search of an angel - “... eye of a guardian”. Vajha Melikishvili was not a man of the-ories, he felt the sculpture with body and soul; even so he loved to narrate the sculpture; even so he loved reasoning. Let’s listen to Vazha (from a tape recording): “...This kind of life is beautiful. It appears, there is a law in lawlessness. You break laws to legitimize the law. ... No, it is not chaos, it is a constitutional enrichment; is not the man con-stitutionally built physics - with his conscious and subconscious. He cannot bring the new law without constitutionality; he brings it out of con-stitutional order. When there is a void between constitutional order and stereotype, then chaos sets in, until constitutionality arrives and new born visions and laws are established. In all, ev-erything follows laws. Without laws there can be nothing, since everything consists of micro- and macro-physics, or chemistry that establishes constitutional laws; if this were not the case, ev-erything would be destroyed”. “Since the man is an evolutionary sub-ject, from plasma to highest form, then new vi-

• Excerpt from Galaktion Tabidze’s poem on Edgar Poe

Embryo Plastic

20

sions of constitutional regularity are created in this developing process. It is exactly these constitutional regularities that come, when ste-reotypes are worn out and when new visions appear. Of course, until the new visions are de-cisively formed, the chaos begins to move, but as a rule, the man manages to arrange all this in the boundaries of constitutional... ...and a famil-iar story begins: what was once new, becomes old again, a stereotype; and then something new will come, something more true and new”.“... Perfection is limitless, of course, limitless with-in boundaries, and boundary is constitutional-ity...” Thus spoke the sculptor. What do his sculptures speak? It is impossible to translate the language of sculpture into words, to find for it a precise match; I just want to suggest my views: The majority of Vajha’s sculptures are protocultural, or postcultural forms; Vajha’s

sculpture-men do not know history yet, or not know it any more; Vajha’s plastic is a recollec-tion of plasma, of an embryo; it is a newborn surface, making us think - by custom - that it en-folds - or as some would say - that it conceals the Great Time, Age, Depth, History, metaphysi-cal contents - a phantom not of this world. If we leave, for a while, Platonic tradition of remembrances and recollections and direct our view away from “the other side” towards here, we’ll be content with what is present; i.e. if we free Vajha’s carved forms from names, we shall find more joy and different perspective: It will be made apparent, that Vajha Melikishvili’s sculptures are, on their own, phan-toms who escaped the trap of history and these phantoms cannot conceal other phantoms - all of them lie on the surface. The patterned surfac-es of Vajha’s “Ayet” and “King Tamar” demon-strate this. This is the case - that space of imagina-

tion - when the discourse of depth and the dis-course of surface are unified - are one and it is this “one” that stands. - A long time ago already..?- A long time ago.., but I got carried away; we talk about Vajha, don’t we? It happened re-cently, in nineteen-eighty-four. It was the time, when the era of devel-oped socialism and national soc-realism was at the stairway of “Perestroika”. And now, at the stairway of “National Gallery”, on Rustaveli Avenue stands “The Moth-er” - bronze sculpture by Vazha Melikishvili. I shan’t go further with the paradox of “The standing Mother”, neither the paradigms of “standing senility” as a delayed, or perenni-ally postponed senility - halted finality, when the childhood and infancy will come soon - plastic of an newborn form and grievance of the Moth-er. The Mother stands and does nothing. Its mission is to stand... Here sense and nonsense unite - beginning and end. Position towards text of sculpture is also a position towards the world.The life of Vajha Melikishvili is his own plastic, - one long hum of grievance and melancholy. At the stairway, on Rustaveli Avenue stands something more than a statue of Moth-er - here stands mother of sculpture, mother-tongue of sculpture, language of a newborn plastic - other speech. At the stairway, on Rustaveli Avenue stands the Other - a stranger stands, a remark-able foreigner. It’s a different time, it’s a differ-ent weather.

Shota Bostanashvili2006translation: David Bostanashvili

21

madlobeli var arqiteqtorebis: vaxtang daviTaiasi, SoTa bosta-naSvilis da giuli gegeliasi - ma-Rali azrovnebisTvis da agreTve megobar sulebad movlenisaTvis,

isinic mecenatebad arian dabadebulni.

madlobeli var im dros q. senakSi raikomis mdivnis, Semoqmedi Jurnalistis vaxtang esvanjiasi. is didi mecenati iyo... ara mxolod Cemi Zeglis xelSewyobisaT-vis... aseTad iyo dabadebuli. megobar su-lad iyo dabadebuli.

madlobeli var senakis sazoga-doebisa. maTi mSobliuri sulisa. mwveli siTbo `golivafiro~ - si, rogorc mara-diuli dedaSviloba dResac Tavs mevleba. q. senakSi Seqmnili memoriali `didebis kubi~ sulieri emociis nayofia: xelovanis Sinagani datvirTvis tkivi-lamde daWimuli nervebis simebze navali sami weliwadi. Ees aris ganwyobileba su-lieri, rasac vgrZnobdi muSaobis proces-Si. ar arsebobda wuTi gamoTiSvisa. TiTe-

q. senakSi Seqmnili memoriali -

Cemi emociuri datvirTva

THE SCULPTOR VAJHA MELIKISHVILI

ARCHITECTS: V. DAVITAIA, SH. BOSTANASHVILI, G.GEGELIA.C

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OF

GLO

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ENA

KI

did

ebis k

ubi s

enakSi

moqandake

vaJa meliqiSvili

arqiteqtorebi: v. daviTaia,

S. bostanaSvili, g. gegelia.

1976-1984

bis boloebze vgrZnobdi mTel emociur datvirTvas; saocari SegrZnebaa: ar arse-bobs araferi gaukeTebeli - yvela Sinagani datvirTvis momenti xelovanisa maSin gad-adis masalaSi magiuri ZaliT. zogadsakacobrio xedva didi omisadmi, albaT stiqiur Zalas emsagavseba, didi warRvnis tolia, maradiulia Tema am warRvnis Semdeg sicocxlis ylortis amowvervisa.

Tema 1. miwa deda da deda samSoblo - Tema maradiuli udgas dedaboZad wina-parTa suls, CvenSi Camosaxlebuls, Cvens saxlSi dabudebuls, gadmosuls JamTa sia-vidan Cven ZarRvebSi, genebSi, aRSfoTebul suls, xelebCamoyrils da gaognebuls am ubedurebis uCinar mowmeT; TaRi amSvenebT maT maradiulobas am usasrulobaSi. Tema 2. Oomis Wyletasa da sikvdilis Zabris siviwroveSi gamonawuri merani SemorCenili saxiCari sxeuliT da am naS-Tis Camosaxsnelad sasoebiT xelawvdili dedebi... debi... Tema 3. jgufi zarisa motiralTa ki ara, mavedrebelTa, sivrceSi xedviT, su-raTiT xelSi, romelic iyo Svili, xati adamianTa wminda rwmenisa, arsebisa. Tema 4. kacobriobis macocxebeli Zala winaaRmdegobisa, ZuZueb atortmanebu-li qali sayviriT, Rrma, mayvirali sivrce kosmiuri drtvinviT aRsavse da amxedre-buli suli adamianebisa - Zalaa didi. Tema 5. fexmZime qali niadaggamo-clili, usasrulobaSi mdgomi, sanTlad nawuri, nawamebi, magram Zlieri, amayi fuZe - Zala momcemi momavlisa. xerxemali. da bneli sivrce. da mamakaci gamanayofiere-beli Wers mibjenili TaviT, SeboWil sivrceSi xelebiT icavs, ifaravs adgils nayofis momcems, da Svili, Ze, ylorti axali maradiuli - mamakacis fesvidan - awverebuli Tavisufali iswrafvis cisken

sinaTliT mowyurebuli. Tema - optimis-turi; bavSvi, axali sicocxle - didi war-Rvnis Semdeg gadarCenili noes kidobani. ase gavakeTe: pirdapir TabaSirSi gavakeTe: saZirkvels Semovuyevi garSemo... amovaSene abreSumis WiasaviT. Wupri ga-vikeTe. Sig moveqeci. martom avaSene - sxvi-si xelis dakareba Caangrevda, CaSlida ufskrulSi, veRar amovkrefdi. is aRar iqneboda. kubi gardigardmo nakveTi naJuri cis naTeba - imedis sxivi.oboli sanTeli mouxdeba - sicocxlis feTqva. marmarilo, rasakvirvelia marma-rilo, TeTri mcivari da Tbili - rogorc dedamiwa. yovel Rames vaTenebdi ase: vina xar, ra xar, RmerTi xar, ca xar, miwa xar - gama-keTebine.qveTemebi: a. brZeni varskvlavTmricxveli akidoze Semoskupebuli, samyaros usasru-lobaSi macqerali. b. figurebi Tavdayira maRlad da dablad mavalni. g. saxtad darCenilni. d. erTmaneTze akidebulni. e. gaRvril - gamoRvrilni - awelilni. CaxlarTulni da CamoxlarTulni. simi-viT mJReri asoci figura TaviT da taniT.kubi TeTri da qaTqaTa, wminda savane - su-dara TeTri. maradiuli forma gabzaru-li. didi tkivili nabzar sxeulSi CaduRe-buli. TiTebSi grZnob magiuri simebis saTqmels... da... akeTeb...problemebi: kompozicia: sivrcis ganawileba, wina da ukana planebi, Weri da kedlebi, amoburculebi - Rrmulebi. mrgvalisa da brtyelis damokidebuleba. wvrilisa da

msxvilis urTierToba da plastika. su-lieri sivrcis Zerwva, didisa da pataris urTierTwyoba, Sefardeba. `balvanka~ da misi miyvana. Crdil-sinaTlis saidumloe-ba. kosmiuri SegrZnebebi TabaSirSi muSaoba dasrulda gavida sami weli - 1977 - 1980ww. Camomsxmelebis ZebnaSi kidev erTi weli. yalibi aRebulia! Caisxa! Caisxa. gavida 5 bednieri weli. 19 ivnisi 1977 - ivlisi 1982 Zegli gaixsna 1984 wels - maisSi.

P.S. asoci figura taniT da TaviT: vgulisx-mobdi kompoziciur gaazrebas, anu kom-poziciur xilvas Cems gonebaSi: TiTqos kubis Sida sivrceSi oci figura teqstis kompozicias qmnida anu tanTa kompozici-ur wyobas. xolo sxeulze kompoziciuri mibmiT - Tavebi sasveni niSnebis qaotur wyobas struqturul wesrigSi aqcevdnen da kompoziciis wesrigs asabuTebdnen. lamazi iyo TeTr TabaSirSi mTeli es kompozicia : TeTr marmarilos gavda... spetaks - niuansebis xlarTuli livliviT.dasanania... betonma sinaTlis sxivi Caylapa da srulyofileba dauuxeSa... magram imedi maqvs droTa ganma-vlobaSi betonSi Camosxmuli Zegli Cai-Jangeba, qerqs moidebs, vulkanur bazalts daemsgavsemba da aseTi Sinaarsis arsiT SemorCeba... danatovrad... Cvengan... xeleCoTi damuSaveba waadgeba Zeg-lis betonis zedapirs, JamTa msvlelobiT CaiJangeba. TeTri marmarilo rom yofili-yo - zedapirs sriala damuSaveba mouxde-boda.

vaJa meliqiSvili 23

24

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I would like to express my gratitude to the ar-chitects: Vakhtang Davitaia, Shota Bosta-nashvili and Giuli Gegelia – for high power of thought and for being friendly spirits – they were born as Maecenas.

I am grateful to at that time Chairman of the Senaki district, the creative journalist Vakhtang Esvanjia. He was a great art supporter …. Not only for my sculptures … that’s how he was. He was born to be a friendly spirit.

I am grateful to Senaki society, for their dear spirits. The burning warmth of M”Golivafiro”, as the infinite motherhood, still soothes me. The memorial constructed in Senaki “the Cube of Glory” is the fruit of the spiritual emotion: three years long path over the strings of nerves tightened by the internal emotional pain of the creator. This is a spiritual state, which was so ob-vious during the creation period. There was not a moment of idleness. I felt the emotional bur-den on the tips of my fingers; it is amazing feel-ing: there is nothing undone – every moment of internal strain of the creator is transmitted in a magical way into the materials.

MEMORIAL BUILT IN SENAKIMY PERSONAL EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT

The global view on the war reflects the natural catastrophe, equals to the great flood, and the eternal theme- rebirth of life after such flood.

Theme 1. Mother land and mother home country – this eternal theme supports the spirits of our ancestors, continuing its existence in us, in our homes, flowing from the past dark times into our veins, genes, spirits at unrest, stupefied and immobilized by witnessing this devastation; in this infinity the dome protects their eternity. Theme 2. The steed born from the nar-row neck of the war disaster and death funnel with its scarred body, and the hands of mothers and sisters stretched out in the attempt to save its suffered body. Theme 3. The group of not grieving but begging, with the view of a perspective, with the picture in the hand, the picture of a son, the picture of the pristine human hope, existence. Theme 4. The human livelihood force of controversy, a breastfeeding mother with a horn, deep space disturbed by the cosmic un-rest and rebellious spirit of humans – is a great force. Theme 5. The pregnant woman, stand-ing on a groundless infinity, tortured and trou-bled, but strong, proud – the force that gives the birth to the future. The spine. And the dark space. And a man supporting the ceiling with his head, he tries to protect and hide the bodily parts which give generations in the restricted space, and a child, a son, the new and eternal bud from the father’s roots – trying to reach the freedom, thirsty for sky and light. The theme is optimistic; a child, new life-the Noah’s Arch af-ter the great flood.

This is how I did it: I did in directly in gyp-sum: I followed the fundament all around … I built it like a silkworm. Made a cocoon and found myself inside it. I did it all on my own – somebody

else would destroy it, would make it vanish in it in the oblivion, I would not be able to collect it together again. It would not exist anymore.

The Cube, lit with the light from the skies all across – is the ray of hope. The solitaire candle would do it good – the sym-bol of life.

The marble, of course the marble, white cold and warm – like an earth. I spent every night sleepless like this: whoever and whatever you are, the god, the sky, the earth – help me to do this. Sub-themes: a. The wise stargazer, sitting on the high, gazing into the eternity. b. The upside-down figures walking up and down. c. Mesmerized d. Bind to each other e. All meshed up together. Tangled with each other. One hundred and twenty figures with voices like strings, with heads and bodies. The Cube is white and clear, the pristine grave – white shroud. The eternal form with a crack. The great pain embedded in the broken body. I feel with my fingertips the magical voices of the strings .. . and … I am creating

Problems

Composition: distribution of the space, foreground and background, ceiling and stairs, bumps and hollows. Interdependence be-tween the round and the flat; Correlation of narrow and wide and its plasticity; Creation of the spiritual space, arrangement of a large and a small, correlation between these two; Model and its completion; The secret of the light and shades; The Cosmic senses. Works in gypsum are finished.

Three years have passed. 1977 - 1980. One more year has gone in search of foundry-men The mold is finished! The mold is casted! Five happy years have passed. June 19, 1977 – July 1982 The Sculpture was opened in May 1984. P.S. Twenty figures with bodies and heads: I meant the compositional structure, or more resize the compositional vision in my mind: as if twenty figures in the inner space of the cube created a composition of the text, or the com-positional structures of the bodies. And being compositionally adjusted to the bodies – the heads bring the chaotic structure of the punc-tuation marks into structural order- and prove the order of the entire composition.

This composition was beautiful in white gypsum: looked like a white marble… very pure- with the ripples of complex nuances. It is regret-ful…the concrete has absorbed the light and as stiffened the perfection… but I hope that the concrete sculpture will go rusty and develop its own crust, and will look like a volcanic basalt and will stay forever like this, as a heritage from us. The finishing with chisel will be good for the concrete surface of the sculpture; it will be-come rusty as the time goes.

If it was a white marble than the smooth finishing of the surface would do it good.

Vajha Melikishvili28

29

paata

PAATA

1973

inteleqti

1974

INTELLECT31

enguri

ENGURI

1975

34

arqiteqtori

1975ARCHITECT

35

1982

PORTRAIT OF A MOTHERdedis portreti

36

laura

1971LAURA

1984

WAITING – GRIEVING MOTHER molodini - mwuxare deda

38

39

verZi

ARIES1974

cxeni

HORSE1984

cxovelebi - modeli proeqtisaTvis sabavSvo parki malTayvaSi

ANIMALS IN CHILDREN’S PARK MALTAKVA. PROJEQT1984

torsi

TORSO1994

44

45

torsi

TORSO198646

torsi

TORSO1990 47

xis figura

WOODEN FIGURE2000

In Georgian Epos

A long time ago, the Goddess of prosperity and de-cency, the truth of the Universal balance, Ia, guarded the Earth ;So prosperity, decency and eternity reigned on the Earth.But the underworld irrupted and stole the Goddess of happiness.Only her mysterious voice remained on the Earth;And so the tale goes, that only those who loose them-selves in search of the Goddess are able to hear this voice:“The truth is within you, as you are still looking for me...” whispers Ia to them.

qarTul eposSi:

Zvelad didi xnis win dedamiwas mfarvelobda dovlaTisa da zneobis,wonasworobis WeSmaritebis qalRmerTi `ia~da iyo dovlaTi, zneoba da maradiuoba dedami-waze.magrammovarda qveskneli da gaitaca bednierebis qal-RmerTi;mxolod misi idumali xmaRa drCa dedamiwaze;gadmocema ambobs:es xma im adamians Caesmis - vinc Tavis Tavs am qal-RmerTis ZebnaSi xarjavs;`WeSmariteba SenSia, radgan me meZeb~ .CasCurCulebs mas `ia~.

50

GODDESS OF TRUTH AND UNIVERSAL BALANCE `IA~ - `UTOPIA~wonasworobisa da WeSmaritebis qalRmerTi `ia~ - `utopia~

1995 51

52

GODDESS OF TRUTH AND UNIVERSAL BALANCE `IA~ - `UTOPIA~wonasworobisa da WeSmaritebis qalRmerTi `ia~ - `utopia~

1995 53

frTosani xari

WINGED BULL1992

BALERINA1985

balerina

57

ST. ANDREW THE FIRST - CALLD1985

wm. andria pirvelwodebuli

58

ST. NINO1985

wm. nino

59

CHRONIDER OF GEORGIA1980 - 1990

saqarTvelos mematiane

61

mefe aieti

KING AYET1985 - 1993

iakob gogebaSvili

IAKOB GOGEBASHVILI200068

69

Tamar mefe

QUEEN TAMAR1995 - 2004

Tamar mefis portreti

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN TAMAR1998

80

avtoportreti

SELF-PORTRAIT